Making the First Rail

The first rail began as an ugly, rectangular block of solid steel.

There was nothing elegant about it. Nothing about the dark-gray bloom sitting on the charging table suggested that it would soon form the spine of the first heavy transit line in the kingdom.

It was thick, heavy, scarred from the ingot mold casting, and its surface carried heavy patches of black iron oxide scale where the metal had cooled in the pit.

Yet Ernest stood before it as though he were inspecting a gold ingot.

Stamped cleanly into one end was a single identification mark:

HEAT 023 — BLOOM 04

Hollen Vane stood beside him, resting his hands behind his back. "You are staring at the dirt again, Ernest."

Ernest didn't look away. "I am inspecting."

"You've been inspecting the exact same block of steel for six minutes."

"It is an important block."

"It is a rectangular lump."

"A heavy railway rail is inside it."